DIRT report could be presented to Dail by early next week

The Dail Committee of Public Accounts could present its report into the wide-scale evasion of DIRT tax in the 1980s and 1990s to the Dail as early as next week. The report, which has taken more than two months to compile, may form the basis for the recouping of millions of pounds in unpaid taxes for the Exchequer from some of the State's financial institutions.

The key issue for the committee to decide is whether AIB secured an amnesty from the Revenue Commissioners in 1991 - however informal - in respect of DIRT liabilities arising from bogus non-resident accounts. During the seven weeks of public hearings, the Republic's biggest bank insisted its officials had brokered a deal with the Revenue Commissioners which cancelled any DIRT arrears for 1986 to 1991. The committee will also have considered the position of the State-owned ACC Bank and National Irish Bank.

The findings of the six-member subcommittee which conducted the DIRT inquiry are also likely to include some recommendations suggested by the Department of Finance. In its closing submission to the DIRT inquiry, the Department called for the introduction of a formalised annual review with the Minister for Finance on specific problems with the application of certain taxes.

The committee is also expected to advise on whether auditors should be required to make regular reports on tax compliance to the Central Bank.

The committee will have considered the role of the Revenue Commissioners in collecting DIRT during the 12 years from 1986 to 1998 covered by its inquiry. It is likely to have examined various options on enhancing the structures of the Revenue Commissioners to make it a more efficient and professional body. Currently it has a chairman, who acts as its chief executive, and a couple of senior colleague commissioners but does not report to a non-executive type structure.

The committee chairman, Mr Jim Mitchell, had undertaken to deliver its report by Christmas and had hoped to present it to the Dail last week. The committee will meet to consider the final draft of the report at the weekend and could issue it next week.

The report follows seven weeks of hearings where the committee examined witnesses from the major financial institutions, the Revenue Commissioners, the Central Bank, the Department of Finance and politicians. It heard evidence from 142 witnesses and examined 150,000 documents. The hearings were based on the report completed by the Comptroller and Auditor General's office commissioned by the committee.

The inquiry was set up last year following the "leaking" of an internal AIB document to the Sunday Independent which suggested the bank had potential DIRT liabilities of £100 million (€127 million).